Is the Inazuma 1200 becoming a boom lately…?
I’ve been seeing them a lot recently. Quite something.
A little concern came up, so we got a check request.
That’s quite a lot of wiring in there… I was a bit surprised!
If you use a Daytona D-UNIT+ you can make the wiring much cleaner.
I’d say it probably gets cut down to less than half.
Wait! On the inside…
The rod is bent… by the way.
Steering damper installation is super critical.
I think OHLINS is still the safest choice for a steering damper.
The shift rod is the same way—if you don’t pay attention to stroke and angle, the force gets applied in a bending direction.
It’s not just simple front-and-back motion; it’s a short arc motion, so you have to be careful.
The engine damper was completely loose. Probably from the factory.
I cleaned it up with a Vikan brush, nice and thorough.
Kyowa Clean Pipe Brush Yellow 40mm Diameter Vikan Pipe Cleaner 53786
I’ve had this for several years now… I think I’ve been using it for over five years.
The durability is incredible. Even when used with wash oil, the bristles don’t wear out or fall out, so it’s been really handy.
We’re using the later-model engine damper.
Sealing grease inside helps smooth out case wear, I think.
Let’s replace the generator damper too.
I cleaned up the body while we were at it.
The manual says to use a wooden block and clamp it in a vise.
This chain clamp locking plier is really handy.
IRWIN 20R Chain Clamp 225mm T27EL4—I probably have the cheap one.
Kyoto Precision Tools (KTC) Locking Plier Chain Clamp 510R KTC is also appealing.
It doesn’t get used that often, but it’s one of those tools you can’t do without.
The spark plugs have iridium installed, but I’ll swap them to JR8B.
I’ll tighten the terminal caps firmly—good electrical contact is important. I’ll replace the NT4245 terminal cap too.
Be careful when removing the oil-cooled head cover gasket (spark plug hole side).
It sticks quite often, as shown in the image.
This gasket has metal in the outer hole (the smaller one). If you try to peel it off forcefully, the case material stays behind, and when you try to remove it…
it rolls right into the cam chain tunnel. And if you’re unlucky, it lands perfectly on the crankshaft chain sprocket… Be careful.
To prepare for such situations, the Stahlwille 12600-500G Flexible Magnetic Catch
is like an ounce of prevention—or insurance even if you do stumble.
There’s no shortage of liquid sealant believers in this industry…
And there are plenty of pad grease believers too.
If it’s for insurance… well, there’s no insurance at all, just extra work.
Leaks happen because the gasket fails, and it’s hard to compensate for that.
So the concerns we found are like this…
To put it clearly… this is roughly how the manual installation looks.
I took it for a test ride and it seemed to run fine, so I thought it couldn’t be that… but the owner’s senses are really sharp!
I’ll adjust the valve clearance tomorrow.
The cam chain tensioner is automatic.
Though “automatic” doesn’t really mean automatic, and it’s not convenient either… it’s actually inconvenient.
I think a manual tensioner would be better in many ways… but efficiency, I guess?
From the manufacturer’s perspective, it’s also a big insurance element to prevent cam chain trouble.
With a high-tension chain, you need to be careful when assembling this auto tensioner.
If you assemble the tensioner normally, insert the spring, cap it, and bolt it down
the adjustment kicks in all at once, and the momentum can make the high-tension chain jump over the sprocket, causing a skipped link.
Ever had that experience where you think “Oh no, I have to take it apart again”?
I install the spring and cap completely before bolting it on.
I bolt the tensioner body on first, then push it by hand as far as it will go, then rotate the crankshaft a few times back and forth, push it by hand again to adjust the cam chain—that way it almost never jumps.
The more work I do, the more I think “The service manual is necessary, but that method isn’t the only way.”
